Berlitz Rush Hour Italian (Berlitz Rush Hour All-Audio) (Italian Edition) [Audio CD]

Berlitz Guides (Creator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001 | Series: Berlitz Rush Hour All-Audio

This pack is designed to help the user learn Italian while in the car, on a train or in the gym. It presents basic, real-life situations and entertaining dialogues on two audio CDs, with a listener's guide containing an audioscript for quick reference.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Bouncy music, a backbeat, short sections…and lessons put to song take…the monotony out of learning the basics. --Los Angeles Times

For car commuters or anyone with...limited time to learn. --New York Post

Makes it easier to learn and retain a language. --USA Today --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

About the Author

In January 2003, the renowned Berlitz Publishing became part of the Langenscheidt Group. The Langenscheidt Publishing Group, the premier group of map and travel companies, offers over 4,000 North American and international street maps, road maps, atlases, language-learning, bilingual dictionaries, and travel-related products covering countries, cities, and languages in every continent.

Product Details

• Audio CD: 96 pages
• Publisher: Berlitz Multimedia; New edition edition (June 2001)
• Language: Italian
• ISBN-10: 2831577578
• ISBN-13: 978-2831577579
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,802,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for rush hours, November 22, 2004

By 

M. Coppedge (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Berlitz Rush Hour Italian (Italian Edition) (English and Italian Edition) (Audio CD)

This language course has 2 CDs with text and songs, plus a third CD with songs only. The accompanying book covers the first two CDs, not the third, but includes a short grammar and a vocabulary list of all the words used in the lessons. Each of the 10 lessons includes conversations in English to set the stage, then the new words and phrases in English and Italian.

The course is advertised as a rush hour course to be used in the car. I think, the lessons require too much concentration to be used while driving.

Some of the words are used in songs and repeated over and over again -- so you will definitely remember those at the end of the lesson -- others are used in conversations with some opportunity to repeat the phrases after the speaker. Lessons 1 through 3 make sense. After that, the course brings lists of words, e.g. all the days, then all the months, then all the seasons, etc. without much repetition. So, in order to memorize those words, you will have to listen to the same lesson many times. Which would be okay, if the lists were not interrupted by one song that comes again, and again, and again until you are oversaturated.

Although all Italian conversations are spoken by native speakers, the American student often repeats phrases in an American accent. I found that distracting because I really wanted to hear correct Italian only.

The cover text says that the course teaches Italian through songs. In reality, only very few words are used in songs, primarily the easy ones. Why would I need so many repetitions for "andiamo" or "ciao", while I get hardly any for more complicated words and phrases?

I basically was disappointed, although the course does give a basic introduction to Italian. In order to really profit from the conversations and lists, you need to read along in the book. Which means, please don't drive.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Annoying Songs, February 6, 2006

By 

A. Randazzo "Book Mom" (RI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Berlitz Rush Hour Italian (Italian Edition) (English and Italian Edition) (Audio CD)

Does anyone really need to know how to say nice purple tie? I wanted to learn basic italian, but what I got instead was annoying songs that got in the way of learning the language. My kids were laughing so hard at the lame songs that we forgot what we were trying to learn! While it was good to have the book that goes along with the CD, the formate and the some of the first lessons were not where I wanted to start out (scrambled eggs vs fried?). The lessons did get better as you went along. If you don't mind learning italian Sesame Street style, then this is the CD for you.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A bit buono, a bit cattivo, November 12, 2005

By 

Mitchell Bucky Fay - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Berlitz Rush Hour Italian (Italian Edition) (English and Italian Edition) (Audio CD)

Good things--the songs will stick in your head, and this will help memorization. There is a logical progression. The accompanying book generally helps, especially if you're like me and want to see the word as well as hear it. It is espeically useful in some of the pronunciations not always covered in guide books.

Bad parts--the main male character has an awful pop voice. The romance story-line can get uncomfortable; when he is singing about how he wants her to kiss/hold/touch him now, I wanted to leave the room. And some of the choices are foolish. If you are only going to learn the basics, wouldn't you rather know how to talk about sights than how to leave a message or tell someone they have a nice refrigerator?

Since I expected the songs to be cheesy, I can't hold that against them. But I expected better thinking of what lessons would be covered. My advice to Berlitz would be to skip having a plot and focus on what we actually need to know.